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Itten+Brechbühl AG

Company type	Consortium
Industry	Service
Founded	1922 (1922)
Headquarters	Bern , Switzerland
Number of employees	< 300 (March 31, 2016)
Website	www.ittenbrechbuehl.ch

Itten+Brechbühl ist ein Schweizer Architekturbüro und Generalplanerunternehmen. Christoph Arpagaus, Jürg Born, Beat Gafner, Andreas Jöhri, Robin Kirschke, Alain Krattinger, Peter Lobsiger, Andrea Molina, Peter Schneitter, Marion Spirig, Jan Stöcker, Jürg Toffol führen das Architekturunternehmen mit rund 300 Mitarbeitenden an den Standorten in Basel, Bern, Genf, Lausanne, Lugano, St. Gallen, Zürich, Berlin und Greifswald. Zurzeit gibt es rund 50 Associates und Associate Partners. Sie teilen sich rund sechs bis zehn Prozent der Aktien.

History

Salvisberg and Brechbühl, 1922-1940

The two men knew each other from Berlin. In 1910, Otto Rudolf Salvisberg recruited Otto Brechbühl, a graduate of the Biel/Bienne Technical College, to the office of Paul Zimmerreimer. Salvisberg had graduated from the technical college in Burgdorf in 1904, and worked at Curjel and Moser in Karlsruhe before coming to Berlin in 1908. Both men worked for Zimmerreimer by day and prepared competition entries for themselves by night. They enjoyed some success, including a project for the Frohnau Garden City in Berlin. Salvisberg became a freelancer in Berlin in 1914, followed by Brechbühl. Salvisberg became a successful architect, building around 40 villas in Berlin, as well as housing estates such as Onkel Toms Hütte (in collaboration with Bruno Taut and Hugo Häring) and on the Schillerpromenade. As a master builder and craftsman, he remained as neutral as possible on the contentious issues of modernism. Brechbühl returned to Switzerland in 1922 to manage the shared office in Bern. Thus began the story of what we now call IttenBrechbühl.

The breakthrough came in 1924/25, with the competition for the Lory-Spital in Bern, followed by the nursery in the Elfenau estate. Salvisberg and Brechbühl won their third 1st prize for institutional buildings at the University of Bern. All three buildings were created quickly and convincingly. For the Lory-Spital, Salvisberg and Brechbühl developed a new type of floor plan that embodied medical progress: the patients’ rooms faced south with a continuous balcony and glazed sun lounges at the corners. The Lory-Spital marked the start of the modern era in Bern and established the office of Salvisberg and Brechbühl on the contemporary architectural scene. From 1934, Salvisberg and Brechbühl became the appointed architects of Hoffmann-La Roche, working first in Basel, then later in Welwyn (GB) and Milan.

Salvisberg remained in Berlin to manage his large office, while Brechbühl headed the branch in Bern. In 1930, Salvisberg succeeded Karl Moser as Professor of Architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. This led to heated disputes, because the radical modernists accused Salvisberg of deviating from the unequivocal virtues of modernism. Since then, his work has found new recognition under the heading of «The other modernism».

Salvisberg died while skiing in Arosa in December 1940. The architectural historian Stanislaus von Moos writes: «His influence on the Swiss construction scene in the last few decades may in fact have been more lasting than that of any other architect, with the exception of Le Corbusier. Yet he has almost no means to achieve posthumous fame or cult status: the forthright attitude of a fighter, affiliation to a «groundbreaking» movement, the brilliance of a tragic fate.» His Zurich office and architectural appointment at Hoffmann-La Roche were taken over by Roland Rohn, while Otto Brechbühl continued by himself in Bern.

Otto Brechbühl, 1940-1955

After the death of Otto Rudolf Salvisberg, Otto Brechbühl (1889-1984), took charge of the Bern office under his own name. Brechbühl had grown up in St. Imier in the Bernese Jura and attended the technical college in Biel/Bienne before joining Salvisberg in Berlin. During the First World War, he was head of the Building Office at the Reich Office of the Interior. From 1922 onwards, he was Salvisberg’s man in Berlin. Brechbühl was a practitioner, an executor and a technician. Those who knew him describe him as a grand old man. But also as the strict boss of an architectural office that had five or six employees at the end of the forties but about 20 by the end of the fifties. Brechbühl’s wife, a pianist from Berlin, is said to have scrupulously controlled working hours and the issuing of materials. Every plan that left the office would first be inspected by Brechbühl. In the beginning during the war, there was little to build because construction was severely restricted. After the war, the extended national style (Landistil) continued to hold sway, and Brechbühl submitted to it for smaller-scale projects. In contrast, his larger buildings evoke the pre-war period, for example, the large hospitals such as the Anna Seiler building and the dental institute of the University of Bern. Salvisberg’s signature can still be sensed and clearly seen in the grid-like façades of the commercial buildings.

At the age of 67, Otto Brechbühl thought about retiring. He was then commissioned by the Canton of Bern to redesign the Inselspital. To ensure continuity, he called in reinforcements from Zurich. Dr. Rudolf Steiger had directed the planning of the cantonal hospital from there, earning himself an honorary doctorate from the university. But it is not people who determine whether a planning company has a future, but the complex, long-term tasks it undertakes.

Brechbühl and Itten, 1956-1968

Jakob Itten was heading for Canada and had already received his visa. It was then that he met Otto Brechbühl in the Schweizerhoflaube in Bern. Brechbühl invited Itten, who had worked for him as a trainee while a student, to join his office. Itten was 26, Brechbühl was 67; one had his career ahead of him, the other was considering retirement. This is how Jakob Itten became Brechbühl’s employee and, from 1963, his business partner. Otto Brechbühl had arranged his succession. Itten replaced the originally intended successor, who had failed to live up to Brechbühl’s expectations during the construction of the Aarberg Hospital. Itten’s arrival also meant that Brechbühl could tackle the major Inselspital project with renewed strength. The Spiegel schoolhouse near Bern was Brechbühl’s last major work.

Jakob Itten (1930-1988), was the son of the architect Arnold Itten, who attracted international interest with the «Alpina» and «Edelweiss» dual hotel in Mürren in 1927. Jakob Itten initially studied physics before later switching to architecture. Following his studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Jakob Itten worked for Jean Prouvé in Paris, among others. His patrons included Rudolf Steiger, the architect of the Zurich cantonal hospital. Steiger had worked with Arnold Itten to build the «Bella Lui» sanatorium in Montana.

Jakob Itten was a water sports enthusiast, sailing world championship contender (Star class) and keen skier. He built his architect’s house by Lake Wohlen and moved into it in 1967. Itten often worked there as a designing architect. He was an exceptionally gifted host who took care of his friendships. He worked without interruption until he was exhausted, then recovered on sailing trips. He had no political affiliation and found balance in his life by gardening. In the army, he held the rank of captain and regimental adjutant. The hospital-building knowledge acquired by Brechbühl since the Lory-Spital, the Anna Seiler building and other public health facilities led to the commission to build the treatment wing and main bed building of the Inselspital (1956-1973). With this work, Brechbühl and Itten definitively established themselves as specialists in public health. In its entire history, the company has built around 80 hospitals.

Itten+Brechbühl, 1968-1973

Following completion of the East treatment wing of the Inselspital in 1964, the architectural office was renamed Itten+Brechbühl in 1967. Otto Brechbühl retired from everyday business at the age of 79. The joint stock company, Itten+Brechbühl AG, was founded in 1973, with 70 per cent of the shares belonging to Jakob Itten and the remaining 30 per cent held by Otto Brechbühl. Karl Gerber, Sven Nägeli, Franz Oswald and Günther Wieser were partners, and the extended management team comprised eleven people. There was a design department and several construction departments. Itten+Brechbühl were unchallenged as the leading hospital planners in Switzerland. Jakob Itten developed the round hospital, which cut walking distances in half for the staff. The most demanding brief was the design and construction of the Aarau and Baden hospitals, handled in a consortium with Motor Columbus.

As the economy boomed, so the company grew. It occupied up to 13 locations in Bern before the office building on Sulgeneckstrasse was completed. In 1973, it had 217 employees; a year later, there were 260. All the work was handled in-house, including HVAC planning, structural analysis, medical technology and operational planning. For cost control, Itten+Brechbühl bought themselves the largest computer system ever purchased by an architectural office in Switzerland at the time.Jakob Itten focused on a forward strategy. With guidance from Charles Lattmann, the Professor of Business Administration from St. Gallen, he began an internal management training programme, published an in-house newsletter and set targets for quality and performance. In short, Itten transformed the architectural office into a planning company.

The economic downturn, barely noticed at first, led to a collapse in orders following the oil crisis of the 1970s. Itten responded by expanding overseas. The backlog of demand in the Middle East promised rapid success. International activities began with the restoration of a hospital in Addis Ababa that had never been finished. The Soviets had imposed conditions on Emperor Haile Selassie that he was unwilling to meet, so he welcomed the assistance from neutral Switzerland. The surgeon Maurice E. Müller and hospital director Walter Mamie saw to the medical part of the project on behalf of the Swiss development aid agency, while Jakob Itten took care of construction. At the same time, customer acquisition was systematically developed by Hans Eggen. This was followed by hospital and university planning projects in Lebanon, Syria, Libya, Algeria and Saudi Arabia. The office built a navy hospital in Umm Qasr near Basrah, which was ready for occupation just one year after the contract was signed. The company’s efforts to acquire new customers were laborious and costly. 18 employees worked in Iraq to prepare the tender for the design and construction of a 1,000-bed military hospital. In ten days, they created a completely new project at the customer’s request, with a new tender for the design and construction. The required guarantees were difficult to provide, so Itten+Brechbühl were obliged to form international consortia. When everything was ready, the owner decided against the 1,000-bed hospital and began to invite tenders for a number of smaller hospitals with 200 to 400 beds. This contract was ultimately awarded to Itten+Brechbühl.

Whilst the projects in Iraq were funded by petrodollars, Itten+Brechbühl provided development aid in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania. They participated in a semi-state-owned development company and worked in partnership with Helvetas. Ultimately, however, Itten+Brechbühl had lost money abroad. Expansion demanded too much of the management, the company got out of control; it had become too large and lost track. During the liquidity crisis, in September 1975, the banks forced Jakob Itten to surrender his share to a stronger partner.

I+B and Motor Columbus, 1973-1991

Various takeover bids were considered. For example, Nikolaus Hajek, then at the beginning of his career, worked out a solution that met with the architects’ approval. He immediately recognised the great potential for know-how, but also saw the weaknesses in financial management and hoped to compensate for them by himself. Yet, it was Motor Columbus, seeking to expand its general contracting division, that opted for the takeover. Itten+Brechbühl and Motor Columbus were already business partners, having worked in consortium on the Aarau and Baden hospitals, still under construction at the time. The aim was to secure the company’s know-how and continue its existing construction projects. Motor Columbus was unsure of the financial legacy of Itten+Brechbühl AG.

After 1975, the workforce was rapidly reduced from 260 to 110 employees: a decision that had long been justified by the order books but desperately resisted by Jakob Itten. The Iraq business, which should have been a lifeline for the company, had become sluggish. Having made a loss for the first few years after the takeover, Motor Columbus subsequently earned money with its architectural subsidiary. Throughout the years from 1975 to 1990, the accounts were evenly balanced, largely due to the fact that the company planned and built only three of the 13 hospitals planned in Iraq between 1974 and 1975.

The company’s own office building on Sulgeneckstrasse in Bern could also now be sold. The same went for the Kappelenfeld tower block near Bern, which had been unsaleable in 1975 due to the construction crisis. At that time, the Albabtain office building was under construction in Riyadh. Hans Eggen had designed the building single-handedly while simultaneously working as a branch manager at Motor Columbus, signing contracts, collecting payments and selling power stations.

The company was now run in a more disciplined and hierarchical way. Yet, the first delegate of the supervisory board, also the Managing Director, had to be replaced after just a year. The second, a civil engineer, soon realised that an architectural office could only be managed by an architect. Motor Columbus, the parent company, showed little interest. Itten+Brechbühl had never been held in lower esteem.

Jakob Itten, who believed to the end that things would change for the better, continued to work at «his» company, mainly because he was bound by a two-year non-compete clause. He became self-employed again in 1978, and was a direct competitor to Itten+Brechbühl AG in the Canton of Bern in the field of hospital construction. Jakob Itten died in 1988 after suffering a car accident through no fault of his own.

I+B and Peter Staub, 1991-1994

Peter Staub (born in 1933) joined Itten+Brechbühl AG as Managing Director at the end of 1979. He had studied architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich and been an assistant at Hoesli before working for Gisel and Schader, running his own office and participating in large projects for various companies abroad. When he arrived, the company was in a sorry state. The staff, by now just 80 employees, had little work to do, there were hardly any designing architects left who were capable of winning a competition and the reputation of Itten+Brechbühl had suffered. Staub set about rebuilding the company from the inside. He needed a new way of thinking and new people. Despite the resistance of the long-serving staff, he introduced a flatter hierarchy and gradually removed the last traces of the old military approach. Staub began with a long-term strategic plan that reflected the changes in society and focused on the company’s own strengths. He called it the new corporate culture. Given a free rein by Motor Columbus, Staub turned the company’s fortunes around after about two years.

The first concern was to restore Itten+Brechbühl’s reputation as a serious architectural office, which meant a return to the ideas of Salvisberg. Competitions were the way to achieve architectural respectability. Young architects won the company twelve 1st prizes in around 50 competitions, of which seven were constructed. Recruiting skilled architects was an essential part of the required generational shift, although most of them left once they had learned enough. All the same, architectural quality became the key issue once again. Yet it took almost ten years for the office to construct the first buildings that Staub considered respectable. These include the Technopark and the treatment wing of the university hospital in Zurich, the nursing college in Interlaken and the pathology unit in Bern.

Secondly, the market had changed. Assignments could not simply be handled; they had to be created. Instead of waiting for the grass to grow, the company would have to sow it. So Itten+Brechbühl took on the duties of building owners in addition to those of architects; for example, recognising the potential of a plot of land. It was the first office to deal with brownfield sites in Switzerland, which resulted in the Technopark in Zurich. This opened up new fields of activity. As early as 1982, Itten+Brechbühl published a brochure covering maintenance, redevelopment and renovation, and organised training courses in building management. The most ambitious task in the eighties was the complete renovation of the surgical ward of the university hospital in Zurich. This contract was based on the «Eggen plan», a roadmap for the future of the entire university hospital that had been developed from 1973 onwards. This concept study made it possible to open a branch in Zurich in 1974. Itten+Brechbühl were also among the first to describe construction as a cyclical activity. Facility Management was another issue that they brought into the public debate, albeit with little response at the time. A planning company like Itten+Brechbühl needs to be more inventive than an ordinary architectural office: failing to move forward effectively means moving backwards.

Thirdly, there was a need to refocus on substance. An architectural office is only as good as its employees. The project managers were the pillars of the company. They were the ones who carried on its entrepreneurial thinking and know-how. Itten+Brechbühl now had around 60 employees, so it was large enough to handle all aspects of a complex construction project.

At the start of 1990, Motor Columbus sought to withdraw from Itten+Brechbühl. Peter Staub, then 58, took charge of the company in a management buyout with Hans Eggen (then 51). With a view to securing the future of the office, they strove from the start for a generational shift that would ensure the continuity of Itten+Brechbühl.

IttenBrechbühl and Nick Gartenmann

Nur vier Jahre später übergab Peter Staub seine Aktien der Gartenmann & Partner AG. Nick Gartenmann hatte nach seinem Studium an der ETH Zürich zusammen mit Marc Werren und Andreas Jöhri das Architekturbüro GWJ gegründet. Bereits vor der Übergabe von Peter Staub fanden verschiedene projektspezifische Zusammenarbeiten zwischen GWJ Architekten und IttenBrechbühl statt, in denen man sich kennen und schätzen lernte.

Gleich zu Beginn der neuen Ära gewann das Büro zwei Wettbewerbe: Die Försterschule in Lyss und die Suva-Klinik in Sion. Dies beflügelte das Wachstum und stärkte die eigene Position als Büro in Bern. Neben der engen Kooperation mit GWJ folgte eine Phase mit verschiedenen Zusammenarbeiten mit internationalen Architekturbüros. So konnte unter anderem zusammen mit Nicholas Grimshaw der Wettbewerb für die fünfte Ausbauetappe des Flughafen Zürich gewonnen werden. In einer Arbeitsgemeinschaft mit Baumschlager Eberle plante und baute IttenBrechbühl das Klinikum in Kortrijk und die Flughafenerweiterung in Wien.

Der Tradition des Unternehmens folgend und vor allem durch Hans Eggen getrieben, plante und realisierte das Büro weiterhin viele Spitäler, Altersheime und Kliniken. Nach den in den 1920er-, 1930er- und 1970er-Jahren erstellten Bauten konnte IttenBrechbühl den Wettbewerb für das neue Behandlungszentrum INO des Inselspitals für sich entscheiden. In Luxemburg entstand eine Partnerschaft mit Schemel Wirz. Gemeinsam wurden während der langjährigen Zusammenarbeit städtebauliche Gesamtkonzepte und verschiedene anspruchsvolle Bauten realisiert. In der Gartenmann & Partner Holding vereinten sich verschiedene Unternehmen, die neben der Architektur auch die Felder der Betriebsplanung und Bewirtschaftung abdeckten.

So wuchs das Büro in den Jahren, in denen Nick Gartenmann es leitete, von 45 auf mehr als 200 Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter. Auch die Standorte wurden ausgebaut: Nachdem bereits in Zürich ein Büro existierte, wurden für die Aufträge in der Nordwest- und Westschweiz in Basel und in Lausanne neue Büros gegründet.

IttenBrechbühl today

Nick Gartenmann zieht sich 2012 aus dem Geschäft zurück und übergibt die Mehrheit des Aktionariats an seine langjährigen Kadermitarbeiter Christoph Arpagaus, Beat Gafner, Andreas Jöhri, Robin Kirschke, Peter Lobsiger und Peter Schneitter. Später kommen Jürg Toffol, Alain Krattinger und Andrea Molina hinzu. Heute führen also neun Partner das Architekturunternehmen mit rund 300 Mitarbeitenden an den Standorten in Basel, Bern, Genf, Lausanne, Lugano, St. Gallen, Zürich, Berlin und Greifswald. Heute können neu auch jüngere Mitarbeitende Associates und später Associate Partners werden. Zurzeit sind es rund 50 Associates und Associate Partners. Sie teilen sich rund sechs bis zehn Prozent der Aktien. In den letzten Jahren vollendete oder zurzeit laufende Projekte und Planungen sind unter anderem das Confédération Centre Genève, der Masterplan für den neuen Stadtteil Grossfeld in Luxemburg, das Reposoir in Nyon, der Neubau des SwissFEL für das Paul Scherrer Institut in Villigen oder der Umbau des SBB-Bahnhofs in Luzern.

Projects (Selection)

Picture	Project description	Location	Construction period
	Interkantonale Försterschule	Lyss, Bern	1991-1997 Neubau
zentriert|100x100px	SUVA-Rehabilitationsklinik Sitten	Sitten, Wallis	1996-1999 Neubau 2013-2015 Erste Erweiterung
zentriert|100x100px	Flughafenkopf Zürich, Airside Center, Bahnhofterminal und Check-in 3 (Flughafen Zürich)	Zürich	1996-2004 Neubauten
	Flughafen Skylink Wien	Wien, Österreich	2005-2012 Terminalerweiterung Nordost-Skylink
	Carba Center 30	Liebefeld-Köniz, Bern	2012-2014 Neubau
	Centro Svizzero di Calcolo Scientifico (CSCS)	Lugano, Tessin	2008-2012 Neubau
	Espace Musée Chaplin	Corsier-sur-Vevey, Waadt	2014-(2016) Neubau
	fmi-Regionalspital	Interlaken, Bern	2012-(2016) Sanierung und Erweiterung
zentriert	Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut Bundesforschungsinstitut für Tiergesundheit	Insel Riems bei Greifswald, Deutschland	2005-2012 Neubau
	GGG Stadtbibliothek Basel	Basel	2013-2015 Ausbau, Erweiterung und Modernisierung
	Hallenbad Frutigen	Frutigen, Bern	2006-2008 Ersatzneubau und Erweiterung
	Intensiv-, Notfall- und Operationszentrum (INO) Inselspital	Bern	1998-2012 Neubauten Sekundärsystem INO
	Kantonsspital Olten (Solothurner Spitäler)	Olten, Solothurn	2001-2012 Neubau und Modernisierung | 2. Etappe
	Media Swiss House	Flamatt, Fribourg	2006-2008 Neubau
	PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Hauptsitz	Luxemburg	2007-2014 Neubau
	Robert Walser-Zentrum	Bern	2008-2009 Umbau
	RTL Group	Luxemburg	2007-(2016) Neubau
	SBB Betriebszentrale Mitte	Olten, Solothurn	2012-2014 Neubau
	Terminal 1A, Flughafen Wien-Schwechat	Österreich	2005 Neubau Provisorium
	Universität Lausanne	Quartier Mouline, Waadt	2009-2012 Neubau Gebäude GSE SSP
	Viersternehotel «Modern Times»	Vevey-Montreux, Waadt	2013-2015 Neubau
	Wisbyer Straße	Berlin, Deutschland	2014-(2017) Neubau

See also

• Benedikt Loderer, Hans Eggen, Stefan Kuhn: Geschichte seit 1922. Zürich. In: IttenBrechbühl (Hrsg.): Portfolio. Bern 2016.
• Hochparterre: IttenBrechbühl - eine Architekturgeschichte. Zürich. Zweite, überarbeitete Auflage. Zürich 2003.
• Hochparterre: Itten+Brechbühl - eine Architekturgeschichte. Zürich 1999.
• Hochparterre: Flughafenkopf. Beilage zu Hochparterre Nr. 12. Zürich 2004.
• Hochparterre: IttenBrechbühl heute. Themenheft von Hochparterre. Zürich 2013.
• Hochparterre: Fin de Chantier. Die Arche sicher verankert, In: Hochparterre (Hrsg.): Zeitschrift für Architektur und Design 5, S. 70-71. Zürich 2010.
• Carba Center 30. Waldeggstrasse 30, Liebefeld. Schweizer Baudokumentation, abgerufen am 9.05.2016.
• SBB Betriebszentrale Mitte Olten. Schweizer Baudokumentation, abgerufen am 9.05.2016.
• La Gare Cornavin. Schweizer Baudokumentation, abgerufen am 9.05.2016.
• Sigfried Schibli: Der Müllerssohn aus Köniz. Wer war der Architekt Otto Rudolf Salvisberg, der dem Basler Roche-Areal ein Gesicht gegeben hat? In: Basler Zeitung, S. 23, Basel 24.10.2014.
• Zentrum Paul Klee/Kindermuseum Creaviva: Promenade Architecturale, Bern 2014.

External links

• Webseite